But women may not be able to link their current symptoms with past abusive events, she added. So they seek a “definitive solution.”

Removing ovaries has become a common way to treat — or to prevent — ovarian cancer, Rocca noted.

The connection between abusive childhoods and psychiatric and somatic complaints later in life are nothing new, though.

Researchers have known this for decades.

But Rocca and her team narrowed the focus of their study to linking women having ovaries removed to abuse.

“So we weren’t very surprised by the findings,” she said.

Mind, body connection

“Women are prompting doctors to do procedures on these essential organs,” Dr. Stephanie Faubion, an internist and director of the Women’s Health Clinic at the Mayo Clinic, told Healthline. “And they’re convinced that this is the cause of the problem.”

But it’s important to understand that physical and emotional pain are linked together, she explained. Even a superficial psychiatric evaluation may miss underlying issues.

“Mind and body connections are very strong,” Elizabeth Jeglic, a clinical psychologist who teaches sexual violence prevention at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told Healthline. “And pain might be psychological.”

Rocca hopes that the findings from the study are a wakeup call for medicine.

“Unfortunately, it takes a long time for new discoveries to translate into a better informed medicine,” she said.

But this information may lead to less harmful interventions, she added.

Faubion agreed. She worries that doctors aren’t asking whether their female patients have been abused.